Law & Order

Serena Comes Out?!?! Okay, what the hell happened at the end of Law & Order last night?!?! D.A. Branch fires A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn for being "too passionate." But the kicker at the end is after she's fired, Serena turns to him and says, "Is this because I'm a lesbian?" Huh? Did I miss something? Some scene that indicated she was a lesbian BEFORE the last episode in which she'll ever appear?!?!?

It's disingenuous to make Serena a lesbian as she's walking out the door. It perpetuates lesbian invisibility: NBC gets the benefit of saying they had a lesbian character without ever having to do a storyline about our lives. Ugh. (For more on this, check out this article on afterellen.com.)

But the problems with Serena's character began long before her finale coming out. For the past four years, the show writers have reinforced stereotypes about female professionals in the lines they have given her. She has long been seen as the overly emotional, irrational female, prone to passionate outbursts. Meanwhile, her two male colleagues react coolly and rationally, patronizingly calming her down. It's disheartening and frustrating; we can only hope that with the new ADA, L&O will also get a clue.